Mario
Summary Mario & Sonic at the 2012 Olympic Games is a multi-sports and mini games, video game for the Nintendo Wii and for the Nintendo 3-DS. Story Mario (Everybody's favorite plumber) and his friends are competing against Mario's greatest rival Sonic The Hedgehog and his own friends for the gold medal in the famous Greek Summer Olympic events. Though they have competed in Beijing in 2008 and in Vancounver in 2010, this time they're competing in London, Great Britain in 2012. Game Modes Single Match This is where most of the action of this game is. Single match is where you compete against other characters (either it be Mario's friends, Sonic's friends or your very own Mii's) for the gold medal in a huge sytem of events (either it be normal or the dream events). London Party This is the huge challenge in the game. London Party is where you compete against 4 other players and you compete in either Olympic Events or Mini-Games to win stickers. The player who fills up thier sheet first is the winner. Bonus Mode In Single Match mode, you also recieve scratch off boards. You can use these boards to unlock either new Mii Costumes, new BGM or other good stuff. Even if you don't get much with the scratch-off boards, you can use the loser boards for unlockables. Story Mode (3-DS) Compete in the many events and get the gold metal and come out on top in this mode. Johnny's Review General Thoughts I always like the Mario & Sonic Olympic games (a lot better than the actual events). I like that you can play as your Miis (with the combination of the Mario and Sonic characters you can have a lot to play with). The last game was *really* fun, and I had high hopes for this game. Graphics Wii: '''The graphics are what you would expect from either a Mario game or a Sonic game. Superior and dazzling cartoon-like graphics. The intro of this game is absolutely spectacular, so is the rest of the game, and unlike most games for the Wii (which the graphics are flat and insubstantial) the graphics in this game are very well detailed especially when it's based on a cartoon-ish video game. '''Nintendo 3-DS: '''The graphicsare just like on the Wii. They're very well detailed (though a bit choppy at times). The backgrounds and the character models are very well done as well. '''Rating(Wii): '''10 '''Rating (3-DS): 9 Music Wii:The soundtrack is very well orchastrated and fits the Olympic atmoshpere very well. Plus, a lot of the events have their very own track. As a part of bonus material, you can also unlock remixed tracks from older Mario & Sonic games respectively, this keeps the music of the game fresh for a long time. Nintendo 3-DS: The soundtrack is also very well done and nicely orchastrated. Though unlike in the Wii Version where you can unlock classic music from the Mario & Sonic games respectively, they're not even featured in the 3-DS version. Rating(Wii): '9 '''Rating (3-DS):'8 Sound/Voice '''Both Versions: '''The sounds of the game are also very nicely well done. The little dings and other small tones in the game are nicely sounded and very audible. The voices on the other hand is what lets this catagory down. Though they do sound very nice as well. But they're recycled from previous Mario & Sonic Olympics games, though the Sonic voices are new, but say the same thing as in the previous games. The Mario voices are also recycled as well as the narrator. '''Rating(Both Versions): '''6.5 Gameplay/Controls '''Wii: '''The gameplay controls are very versatile (which can give the rating a significant boost) you use the Wii remote either vetically, horizontally or with the Wii Nunchuck (depending on the event you're playing, though most events provide many different ways to play the event). The events themselves are also very well layed out. However the game itself still suffers what the previous M&S:O games did: the gameplay is somewhat unbalanced (some events are very difficult to learn while others are a piece of cake). Plus, a lot of the events require good arm strength (because your arm can get tired after playing the game for a while), but with the versatility of gameplay this compensates for it. '''Nintendo 3-DS: The gameplay and the controls are also versatile. You either use the buttons, the Stylus or tilt or even rotate the 3-DS itself to perform the many events in the game. Though, it's not as exhausting as the Wii version, but it can be quite difficult to perform some of these events (which means that the gameplay in this version is also a bit unbalanced). Rating(Wii): '''8.5 '''Rating: (3-DS): 9 Replay Value Wii: 'There are a lot of events and game modes as well as a lot of other special features you can unlock in the game. As you play in the events, you'll receive a sctratch-off board, you use these boards to unlock either remixed tracks from older Mario & Sonic games respectively, and even hats, helmets, outfits and other costumes for your Miis, even if you don't get much by scratching -off from the boards, you can use the loser boards to unlock the stuff you want.. The London Party mode though not the same as the ''Festival mode of the 2010 Winter Games, but is still quite fun to compete against the other characters from the 2 game franchises. '''Nintendo 3-DS): Though there might not be a lot of special features to unlock in this version, but the 3-DS version compensates for this by featuring most (not all) of the events from the Wii version and many more that are exclusive to this version. However, they have problems of their own. Unlike in the Wii version where you can choose any character you want (including any Miis you've created), only certain characters are available for specific events (mainly due to hendheld megabit limitations). But this version features story mode, which is a lot like Festival Mode in the 2010 Winter Games for the Wii. '''Rating(Wii): '''9.5 '''Ratng(3-DS): '''8.5 Final Thoughts I'm gald that I've finally got a chance to play this game. I was waiting for a while to play it, and I still can't believe that Gamefly sent me The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword first. Though Skyward Sword wasn't a complete waste of my time (far from it), it just that I want to play this game first. I really do like how Mario & Sonic compete against each other in the Olympics, which to me is better than the United States and China. because Mario & Sonic aren't wanting to shove a nuclear missile up each other's...well I'll leave the last part to your immagination. '''Overal Rating(Both Versions): '''9